World War Z (novel)
World War Z is a novel by Max Brooks which chronicles the fictional "World War Z" or "Zombie World War". It is a follow-up to his previous book, The Zombie Survival Guide. The book was released on September 12, 2006, with a movie based on it scheduled for release in 2010. Plot summary Pandemic to mass panic, and then to the eventual armed struggle to reclaim the planet. Rather than a grand overview or a single perspective, World War Z is instead a patchwork of individual accounts, each revealing an aspect of the larger plot and simultaneously presenting a very personal tale. These different accounts take the form of interviews. The book draws from Post-apocalyptic and zombie literature. "The Great Panic" chapter describes the rout of civilization in a similar manner to H.G. Wells's The War of the Worlds. The individual accounts cover many genres. The story of a Chinese admiral who spent the war on a submarine would fit easily among Techno thrillers. Unusually for this genre of fiction, the viewpoint is not exclusively American, but focuses on the global nature of the struggle. Brooks addresses current issues such as Environmentalism, the War of Terror and international health care. He also offers an interesting juxtaposition between the modern world and that of postwar Earth. For example, Cuba becomes the world's leading economy, and Tibet becomes the most populous country. This vision of a postwar Earth is startling in its contrast to that of today. Major epochs of World War Z Brooks breaks down the zombie war into a series of distinct chronological periods according to the changing state of events and attitudes towards the situation: Warnings Brooks uses the term "pre-war" to refer to the time before the first infection of the Class Four outbreak, which is the main focus of the novel. The pre-war world largely reflects the modern real world. Some events that Brooks refers to in the pre-war take place in the near future. While there is no mention in World War Z of any encounters with zombies before the initial outbreak, in The Zombie Survival Guide the author does include a number of references to minor and moderate-sized outbreaks that occurred during this time period. Brooks has not stated if these two timelines are identical, but The Zombie Survival Guide is a real book in the World War Z timeline, as it is referred to indirectly. The flap copy on the hardcover edition's dust jacket is written from an in-universe perspective and mentions The Zombie Survival Guide directly. The final few events documented in the 'Recorded Attacks' section of The Zombie Survival Guide clearly display a trail of infection: a hiker brings a Zombie outbreak to Los Angeles, zombies dumped into the ocean later resurface in St. Thomas, etc. An identical pattern is discernible in the early chapters of World War Z, as the infection in rural China quickly reaches critical proportions before spreading to India and the Middle East; infected human organs smuggled out of the region produce zombies in locations without any direct migration of the undead. Blame The beginning of the war was characterized by isolated outbreaks originating in China (and evidence of their existence suppressed by the Chinese government), then moving further west. The virus spreads through infected refugees and infected organs on the black market (of which China is the world's largest provider). As the outbreak grew through Africa, Solanum, the virus which causes humans to become zombies, was first referred to as "African Rabies" or "Jungle Rabies", due to similar symptoms. This time period was characterized by a combination of denial and profiteering. This was likely based on the Western response to the AIDS virus. Part of the reason that the U.S. government was in denial about the zombie threat was that the current president was facing re-election, and the administration did not want to cause a panic by making the fantastic-sounding claim that a zombie plague (which might not even be real) was spreading, as it might only upset the elections. The U.S. president at the time had succeeded another president who had served two terms in office and conducted an unpopular "brushfire war" which left the nation with anti-military sentiment. This heavily implies that Max Brooks is referring to George W. Bush and the Iraq War, and assuming that a very similar Conservative Chief Executive was voted into office in the 2008 election. Many government military and intelligence organizations were beginning to identify the threat, but world leaders largely dismissed the possibility of a large scale outbreak or the presence of a virus that would reanimate the dead. Leading into the first winter after these initial zombie outbreaks, the infestations were still relatively contained, because zombies are much slower during colder weather. Most people were still in denial over the true nature of the reports of zombies, and thought it was just a new strain of rabies. A corrupt pharmaceutical developer named Breckenridge Scott sold a "vaccine" for the zombie virus, called "Phalanx", earning a massive fortune. However, Phalanx was only a vaccine against real rabies, and was nothing more than a placebo against the zombie virus. Phalanx did keep the population from panicking during this first winter, and even helped start a restoration of the U.S. economy. Meanwhile, special forces "Alpha Teams" were deployed by the U.S. government to combat isolated infestations. Although the exact actions of the Alpha Teams were sealed for secrecy even a decade after the end of the war, they were highly efficient during these early months at combating the zombie outbreaks. Thus, through the winter the general populace thought that the situation was under control, they were safe with the vaccine, and it was not too much cause for concern. However, the Alpha Teams were only meant as a stop-gap measure until the regular army could make a full-scale war mobilization, a massive undertaking which was never ordered because of denial at the true nature of the zombie threat, and because Brooks heavily implies that the United States populace was unwilling to make a massive military buildup after the Iraq War similar to anti-military sentiment following the Vietnam War, much less a buildup against something so fantastic-sounding as a "zombie plague". However, the zombies began spreading faster again with the return of warmer weather, and the Alpha Teams were pushed well beyond the limits expected of them. By spring, a female journalist broke the news to the public that Phalanx was a placebo and totally useless against the virus, and that infected corpses were really reanimating as mindless cannibals. While this did finally alert the public to the truth, it also arguably led to the start of the Great Panic. The only nation to take effective measures against the spread of Solanum at first was Israel, which enacted a voluntary quarantine. This quarantine also contributed to the next major event in World War Z. The Great Panic See full article here. The Great Panic is the name given by Brooks to the time of mass hysteria surrounding humanity's realization of the reality facing them. The Panic largely began when the infection started to overrun the population in mainland China. Refugees escaping from the blight in China helped to speed up the rate of infection in other nations. At the same time, the undead were beginning to outnumber the living in Africa and India. Because of the level of denial that the U.S.A. was in over the nature of the zombie threat through the first winter, the public was unprepared. No large-scale warning was made, and due to the media-as-big-business culture in the United States at the time, many news outlets had treated warnings of the zombie plague as simply another disease outbreak like Ebola or SARS outbreaks of previous years: after the initial "buzz" about it wore off and due to Phalanx, everyone thinking it was under control, the media simply stopped reporting about it and moved on to the next big celebrity news, etc. As a result, the first that many typical middle-class suburban Americans knew of the undead threat was when zombies came crashing through their living room windows. Soon, the number of zombies was increasing exponentially. In May, a female reporter finally broke the news that the zombie epidemic was real, and that Phalanx was just a placebo and not a real vaccine against the zombie plague. Genuine mass hysteria set in, with "wannabe Rambos" shooting anything that moved, and doing as much damage as the actual zombies. By August, New York City had been overrun, and zombie outbreaks were happening in towns all across the U.S.A. Desperate to crush the zombies and restore the public's faith in the government's ability to control the situation, half of the U.S. military was deployed at a choke point in Yonkers (just north of the Bronx), and the zombie horde from New York City, numbering in the millions, was lured out towards them. Far from the planned "morale boosting victory", the Battle of Yonkers was an apocalyptic disaster: a river of Undead utterly overwhelmed the U.S. military due to poor planning. Organized response to the zombies collapsed, mass hysteria and chaos set in, and within three weeks the surviving elements of the U.S. military fled west of the Rocky Mountains to establish a new defensive perimeter, abandoning the eastern two thirds of the country. Turning the Tide The Redeker Plan was developed by an ex-Apartheid government official, Paul Redeker, and copied by other nations (with varying names and details). It was determined that not everyone could always be saved, because of lack of resources and dangers of infection. "Safe zones" would be established for some civilians and cleared of all zombies by military personnel. However, some percentage of the population would simply be used as live zombie bait. They would be set up and supplied in other sanctuaries, to draw zombies away from the safe zones and allow the people there time to regroup and reorient. Home Front U.S.A. See full article here. During this time immediately following the Great Panic, the focus is on the restructuring of the United States government, military, and civilian population. Many of the changing tactics of the military and new tools of war and industry are discovered and implemented by the U.S. government. The seat of the government is moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. Around the World, and Above This portion of the book deals with the after effects of the Great Panic and how people and nations around the world are now dealing with the undead menace. Important points in this part of the book include the stabilization of Cuba, which would eventually serve as a base for countries of North and South America, as well as Europe, to begin planning the retaking of their overrun homelands. Another development is the beginnings of an massive oceanic society (the "Pacific Continent"), made up of refugees from around the world who have banded together to survive. During this section of the book the destruction of the Three Gorges Dam and a second Chinese Civil War is referenced. Finally, a plan is put into action by the United Nations to begin to retake lost territory from the undead for the purpose of restoring humanity's confidence and spirit that was lost during the Great Panic. Total War Total War is the name for the phase of the war when humanity began to actively fight back against the undead, both to reclaim territory and to rekindle morale. This period is named after the military concept of Total War. The term is not used to refer to humanity's strategy against the undead, but rather the situation that humanity was up against. It is impossible for any human nation to engage in a "total war" in which 100% of the population is devoted to the war effort, 24 hours a day. However, zombies devote every second of every day to hunting down and consuming humans. They never sleep and require no logistical support. Their lack of any sort of organization made impossible the use of tactics dating to the Bronze Age, such as the disruption of the chain of command or the killing of the enemy general. Each zombie is a self-contained fighting unit that can function for years without resupply, relief, or reinforcement. The use of a new rifle, called the Standard Infantry Rifle or SIR which sacrificed ease and rate of fire for accuracy, ease of manufacture and reliability (Todd Wainio said that it never jammed on him), along with a new type of explosive ammunition (PIE; Pyrotechnically Initiated Explosive) allowed for armies to cut down zombies effectively and made battlefield sanitization as the ammunition destroyed the zombies' brain. Pre-modern warfare infantry squares becomes a predominant tactic against the living dead. Battles consist of the unit forming lines of fire and luring the zombies with noise (in America's case, music by the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, specifically, "The Trooper". Great Britain used bagpipes, South African warriors beat their rifles against their spears chanting Zulu war cries, and the Chinese used bugles), it also acted as a morale booster. They are fired on as they cross a series of range markers, eventually forming a wall of dead zombies that the others have to climb over. In the U.S.A. ammunition distribution is run by "Sandlers", a reference to the Adam Sandler film The Waterboy, soldiers whose only jobs are to distribute ammunition to soldiers and occasionally fill in for a resting soldier. Once zombies started to appear from multiple directions (as they almost always did), the troops would form a square shape around their vehicles, as to protect the center. This method was copied from General Raj-Singh, who attempted to use a square to face off thousands of zombies in India, a successful tactic until his troops ran out of ammunition and were overrun. These new tactics were first employed on a large scale in the United States at the Battle of Hope. Eventually the United States manages to recapture its entire territory, they do so by forming two lines of infantry that stretch across the United States and marching across the country. "The Road to New York", as the campaign was called, lasted roughly 3 years. After this is done, the U.S. military helps the Canadian and Mexican forces retake their countries. Europeans manage to retake their countries. Russia reconquers its territory, with the exception of parts of Siberia, but suffers a vastly higher casualty rate than the U.S. and Europe due to woefully inadequate supplies and equipment. North America is cleared of zombies ten years after the beginning of the war. When China is cleared of zombies two years after that, VC Day is declared: the official end of the Zombie War. It is implied that tribal groups such as South American Indians, Zulu of Southern Africa and Māori of New Zealand fared surprisingly well. One character relates an anecdote about the Māori taking on half of the Auckland horde, using traditional tribal weapons, did much better than the world's various military forces or Western civilians. (the reference to māori is most likely unsupported, as māori currently have fully adapted to a Western style community, much like African Americans in North America). Good-Byes Post-War is the time used to describe the age after the end of Total War. All major cities have been retaken, and the vast majority of areas have been cleared of the infestation. Most of the areas still infected are in the north (such as Finland or Iceland), or in the mountains, where the undead are frozen solid during the winter months; cleanup must be done during the brief thaw each year. Another major area of infestation is in bodies of water, where millions of undead still exist and occasionally make it to land. These heavily infested areas are known as "White Zones". The most heavily infected area other than the ocean floor is Iceland, due to a pre-war lack of military resources and an abundance of refugees, infected among them. World War Z significantly altered the geopolitical and economic landscape. In particular, many national governments collapsed, and the political ties between certain nations grew stronger. The environmental effects of the war also held great portent for the countries emerging from the depths of Total War. Environment and Resources Earth's ecosystem had been badly damaged. The atmosphere was contaminated from the pollutants and ash released by fires during the war, and as hinted at in the Zombie Survival Guide, from the neglect of nuclear and chemical factories and warehouses, and from burning cities to the refugee camps. It was estimated that the amount of particulates in the atmosphere would be comparable to the aftermath of a nuclear exchange by the United States and Russia, this without the exchange between Iran and Pakistan factored in. Parts of Earth were drastically cooled over the course of the war, with the most likely cause being the ash in the air and other pollutants, blocking out the heat of the sun. Many water sources are polluted and the ocean is still a haven for zombies, with an estimated 25 million zombies walking the ocean floor. Because of the large number of refugees who fled to islands, boats, etc., marine wildlife was exploited to such an extent that several species went extinct, including almost every species of whale. All of the sub-arctic baleen species were extinct soon after the war ended. Slow-moving land animal species, like turtles, were mostly wiped out throughout the world. The Canadian Subarctic, a refuge for many people fleeing the violence in the U.S. and southern Canada, also suffered from deforestation, pollution, garbage dumping and zombies frozen into the tundra. During the war, a government organization (the National Reeducation Act) was established to help the American economy become more independent. White collar workers were recruited and re-trained in more practical skills, such as farming and plumbing. Post-war, the Earth remains devastated and resource problems are common. High tech sailing ships have appeared on the scene and it appears that oil and other fossil fuels are rather scarce. Oil from the Middle East is no longer possible, since the lands that weren't irradiated from Iran and Pakistan's little nuclear war were set fire to, particularly in Saudi Arabia. Attempts have been made to restart oceanic production but the presence of so many zombies remains a major problem for oil rig crews as the creatures can survive underwater. Nuclear weapons do not appear to have been used on the zombies themselves, but Iran and Pakistan are probably still highly radioactive and there would be an additional radiation hazard from the multi-megaton detonation that ended the Chinese Civil War. As noted above contamination from neglected nuclear facilities may remain a problem. Geopolitics The political map of the world was drastically altered over the course of the war. The superiority enjoyed by "Western civilization" was completely up ended, and Cuba and Tibet emerge as the two powerhouse nations of post-war Earth. China went from being the world's most dynamic and rapidly growing economic power pre-War, to being one of the nations most severely damaged by the undead. Brooks' vision of this new world order is dark, with casualties in the billions, but as the world rebuilds, there remains hope. North America See Home Front U.S.A. Except for a number of isolated safe zones, almost all of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains was overwhelmed by zombies during the war. The United States government fled to Hawaii, and the West Coast of the United States became home to the nation's remaining human population, serving as a launching pad for the national reclamation effort. The United States also had a higher percentage of isolated pockets of survivors than any other country, probably due to the large number of private owners of firearms and other weapons. Mexico was so weakened by the war that its army was incapable of liberating the country without assistance from the United States. Several groups of survivors had made a stand in old Spanish missions-forts and Aztec and Mayan pyramids. At some point, the country was renamed "Aztlán". To the north, Canada suffered much environmental damage during the Great Panic and the early years of the war as waves of refugees fled to the country's northern territories in order to escape the zombies. Cannibalism occurred after famine set in. Both Mexico and Canada required military assistance from the United States. Cuba began a policy of quarantine early. Combined with the fact that it was an island, and had been well supplied with arms from the former Soviet Union, Cuba was able to resist being overrun by overland swarms of zombies. Due to the state-funded wide-scale medical programs and clinics, the Cuban government very early recognized the true nature of the zombie threat, and mobilized its proportionately stronger military across the island to exterminate them. Thanks to the fact that was a hated totalitarian nation, it was also not the first choice for the initial waves of fleeing and possibly infected refugees, who had first attempted to conquer other islands in the Caribbean. The other islands are noted as having escaped zombie problems and of repelling U.S. "boat people"; other smaller islands in the Caribbean (i.e. Barbados) were not so lucky, being overrun either by the zombies, or collapsing due to fighting with armed refugees trying to force their way in. The fierce resistance of the island natives, many wielding little more than machetes and small firearms, allowed Castro to set his own terms when the “modern-day conquistadores” wound up having to turn to Cuba for shelter. At the same time that mainland countries in the Americas were falling apart during the opening months of the Great Panic, Cuba was already successfully under full military lockdown, and the zombies never gained a foothold in Cuba. The well-defended island nation eventually found itself as an attractive location for refugees from North and South America, and in a position to act as a safe harbor for ships from every major Western country. Munitions factories and produce farms sprang up all over the island, and soon Cuba was flooded with foreign money. The “Northerncubano” refugees soon found that the money-management and business skill that they had acquired in America were now in heavy demand. With these waves of immigrants, mounting support for capitalism and an expanding middle class, Fidel Castro decided to move his government towards democracy, preside over free elections, and vote himself out of power as his last presidential act (taking full credit for the new freedoms of his people). This was partially to avoid being executed in the kind of national uprising that had originally put him in power, but mostly to avoid trying to manage the tangled political and social mess into which his country soon descended. Although by far the wealthiest nation in the post-war world, Cuba now has countless special-interest groups, as well as demonstrations and riots practically every day. South America In Argentina, zombies apparently overran the capital of Buenos Aires. Numerous references are made throughout the book to the "last broadcast" from Buenos Aires, which, according to one source, consists of a Latin singer singing a Spanish lullaby. French Guiana also appears to have been completely overrun, as evidenced by the comment, by the captain of the International Space Station that the Centre Spatial Guyanais (Guiana Space Centre) based in Kourou had been overrun. Chile was also attacked and attempted the use of napalm, which proved ineffective and devastated the wine producing regions. It also moved its capital to Ancud sometime during the war but it has since moved it back to Santiago. In Brazil, outbreaks began with organ transplant patients contracting the disease. It's notable that the majority of these organs obviously came from Chinese political prisoners, in Peru some survivers reach the incas strongholds of Machupicchu and Vilcabamba, only the lastones figth the infection. In the book, it is hinted that some survivors from throughout the continent escaped into the Amazon Rainforest, and are taking refuge in the trees. Africa South Africa was the location of the first major public known outbreak, in Cape Town; this is one of the reasons it was initially known as African rabies. South Africa was also the first nation to effectively combat the undead. Paul Redeker, an Afrikaner business consultant to the former Apartheid government, was located by a South African special forces in his isolated cabin. The emotionless Redeker was surprised to find that they were not there to kill him, but were sent to bring him to the government's bunker to draft a survival plan. Redeker, a logical man who felt emotion was the root of all mankind's problems, had been hired by the white Apartheid government to redraft the top-secret "Plan Orange", the genocidal plan for a possible doomsday scenario in which the black majority might rise up as one to overthrow the ruling white upper class. For his part in this, Redeker was still considered a racist war criminal (this possibly an allusion to Samuel P. Huntington's advice on South African security), although Redeker considered love and hate irrelevant. Redeker surprised the S.O.F. team by already having written up a plan, not having much else to do stuck in his cabin. When he presented his strategy to the presidential cabinet, it (and by extension, him) was almost rejected for its apparent ruthlessness, until Nelson Mandela, who had been the one to personally send for Redeker, personally vouched for him and his plan, claiming that despite his past, his plan would save the country and it's people. South Africa instituted the Redeker Plan which became the basis of most nations' war time strategy. The Middle East Both Iran and Pakistan were severely damaged in a nuclear exchange that was a corollary of a border skirmish involving refugees. It is implied that Iran is irrevocably damaged and no longer fit for habitation, with multiple cities, including both nations' capitals, hit by nuclear weapons. This was considered ironic since everyone thought that Pakistan would use its nukes on India, not it's Muslim neighbors. Recognizing the implications of the zombie threat early on, Israel sealed itself off from the world with a massive wall. All children of Israeli-born parents, non-Israeli Jews, and most surprisingly, all Palestinians and descendants of pre-1948 Palestinians who lived abroad were allowed to seek shelter within Israel after careful screening. Originally, most of the world openly condemned them for these actions, particularly its Muslim-controlled neighbors, who claimed on the Al-Jazera television network it was a Zionist lie and Israel was faking the story to cover up military retreats. But this self-imposed quarantine is, the book implies, a life-saving step for the country. Like the United States, Israel established a coalition government during the zombie epidemic. In building the protective wall, the country's borders shrink nearly to their pre-1967 size, due to the fact that the entrance to Al Quds wasn't fortified. This was done to retract to a more defensible border, as well as (combined with letting Palestinians back in) an attempt to convince the world that the Wall was honestly being built as a defense against zombies, and not to secure territorial conquests. The loss of Jerusalem, coupled with the invitation of shelter to all Palestinians, causes a civil war within Israel. The Orthodox Jew population rises up against Israel's coalition government, but are easily defeated by the Israel Defense Force (due ironically to the fact that the rebels had previously refused military training on religious grounds). Despite these internal problems, the country survives the war in decent shape, at least in comparison to it's neighbors. In Saudi Arabia, the royal family sets fire to their oil fields during the war. It is explicitly stated that no one knows exactly why. Europe In France, an interview in the book talks about clearing the Catacombs of Paris, some that have existed below since the Roman Empire. During reclamation of Paris they are cleared, in one of the worst battles of the entire war. The French Army suffers heavy casualties. As a matter of restoring national pride, France refused to incrementally clear the zombies in Paris, and instead rapidly cleared out the city, knowing full well that they would incur massive casualties. As in Britain, many old castles revert to their former usage during the war and held out through most of it. Many refugees had attempted to take shelter in the Palace of Versailles, not realizing that it was little more than a large fancy house. It apparently was overrun and suffered a devastating fire, and France later placed their wartime national monument on its ashes. Great Britain and its government appear to have survived relatively intact. The British "supreme command" is relocated to Scotland after establishing a massive defensive line along the Antonine Wall. The British royal family dispersed to Ireland and the Isle of Man. South of Scotland, many castles were used by survivors as safe zones. Elizabeth II, at her own insistence, remained at Windsor Castle with a sizable community of survivors, serving as an example for morale purposes in an effort reminiscent of her parents' efforts during the Blitz in WWII. She also gave all her estates to anyone who could reach and fortify them. The base at Windsor began drilling an untapped oil well, which led to England being a major producer of oil after the war. Conwy, a coastal medieval walled town in Wales, served as a base from which British forces would launch the reclamation of Britain. Unlike France, Britain took its time retaking London, taking about five years to clear the capital. Britain also developed the system of "fortified elevated highways" that became popular after the war. Ireland escaped infection entirely.strange due to the fact it was nearer than Iceland but though to be to warm to freeze zombies. It served as a safe haven to the British Royal Family, the Pope, and countless civilians. Though not directly stated, its assumed that Ireland became the wealthiest country in Europe as it received a population boost and had a role in producing supplies and weapons for the liberation of Britain. Its massive agricultural sector provided food for refugees and more than likely Scotland. Ireland though a refuge for European refugees it had roughly 9000 active soldiers and 12000 reservists and British soldiers to secure the country and could repel a zombie outbreak due to its small size and mostly rural landscape unlike the weaker country Iceland. Iceland is mentioned as being completely overrun and having one of the world's highest concentrations of undead, as it provided a haven for a multitude of refugees from Europe, but had almost no military power to fight the spread of the undead. Finland was another zombie-overrun country. However, clearing operations were in progress at the time of the author's tour,Refugees came to iceland and finland so the zombies would freeze but could not handle the sudden influx of civilians and infected civilians and refugees didnt see the first winter. In Germany, the forces of the Northern Command established a safe zone behind the Baltic Sea-North Sea canal (a narrow strip of land that "might as well have been Denmark!"), sacrificing their "Rapid Reaction Stabilization" units as rearguard. It is implied that the Southern command established a safe zone in the Bavarian Alps. Russia was badly affected by the zombie outbreak. Owing to the country's size, the Russians were forced to contend with roaming zombie hordes from Eastern Europe, China, and the countries of Central Asia. The Russian military, despite being a significant military power in the world, fared little better than the U.S. and Chinese militaries, and eventually it erupted into rebellion, in response to which the Ministry of Defense instituted a policy of Decimation. The only real advantage Russia had was the mountains of weapons and ammo left over from the Soviet Union. Russia was eventually replaced by an expansionist theocracy known as the Holy Russian Empire. It is mentioned they have regained several ex-Soviet states through conquest, including Belarus (though many of them had been so depopulated by the zombies that the Russians simply "liberated" them from the undead). Ukraine was forced to evacuate its government to Sevastopol. Stockpiles of Cold War-era chemical weapons were used to kill refugees (and stop the infected among them). The country is supposedly on the verge of a Russian takeover. It is unclear what happened to other areas of Europe during World War Z. However, it can be assumed that countries in Central Europe survived in some form or another - especially in light of a reference to "Bohemia", which is currently a region encompassing the western two-thirds of the Czech Republic. It was said that many European countries dealt with the problem of incarcerated felons by dumping the prisoners into infested White Zones, something the United States refrained from doing, and for a very good reason. The environment of a prison makes an already amoral and violent criminal resourceful, constantly alert for danger, and able to improvise a weapon from anything. Many of these ex-cons not only survived the zombies, but also wound up commanding their own independent, and sometimes very powerful, fiefdoms. A few of these became so powerful that their former nations were unable to reclaim the territory, and the map of Europe had to be redrawn to include these new countries. Asia China was one of the hardest hit nations in the world, due in no small part to the zombie plague originating in China and its large and densely concentrated population, but also to the decisions of the ruling Communist Politburo. It is speculated that the zombie plague began in China because the Communist government was secretly researching the zombie-plague as part of a bio-warfare program, possibly based on zombie research carried out by Japan in China during World War II. The Chinese government did immense harm and greatly added to the spread of the infection by denying and covering up its existence during the initial outbreaks. China was paranoid that the zombie outbreak would be seen as a sign of weakness and an opening to invade China by its enemies such as Russia or the United States. Therefore, Communist China staged a massive military buildup near Taiwan to threaten invasion. This served as an explanation to foreigners for the large-scale military mobilization that was actually meant to combat the zombies. Further, it gave China the cover-story of "mass roundups of political dissidents" to explain to foreigners why so many people were disappearing off the streets, when it was actually due to roundups of localized zombie outbreaks. China's cover-up worked perfectly, fooling the international community, to the point that when the first publicly known zombie outbreaks occurred in South Africa (spread by Chinese refugees) the global population dubbed it "African Rabies", assuming it had originated there and not in China. By refusing to admit the truth of the zombie outbreak to the world, the Communist Chinese government aided its spread due to misinformation about what was actually happening. During the Great Panic, the leading Communist Poliburo in China did not even try to use the Redeker Plan, or any variation thereof: instead of retreating back to a defensible perimeter, the Politburo simply sent wave after wave of soldiers to attack the zombies throughout China. The Politburo arrogantly refused to ever admit even to themselves that a single city had been totally lost to the zombies, even if temporarily, and instead disastrously divided Chinese military forces by trying to hold onto every city at once, never cutting their losses. Rapidly, the regular infantry of the People's Liberation Army was largely used up. However, as a Chinese Navy Admiral explained, any group of men that can be made to walk in a straight line, with a gun thrown into their hands, can make up an "infantry" army: after the trained regular army was depleted, the Politburo began massive conscription of civilians. This resulted in even worse losses; these untrained, green conscripts had even less chance against the zombies than the career soldiers. The situation was described as military police literally shoving guns into the hands of civilians, pointing at oncoming hordes of zombies, and ordering these new "conscripts" to attack the zombies or be shot. As the Chinese Admiral further noted, it did not seem that the Politburo even conceptually understood that every conscript they sent to fight against the zombies, who then got killed, would be reanimated as a zombie, and that they were exponentially increasing the number of zombies in China with this "strategy". The turning point came with the destruction of the Three Gorges Dam. The Dam was overrun by zombie hordes, due to the military being stretched so thin by the poor decisions of the Politburo, which made the emergency pressure release valves impossible to reach. Thus when a pressure release was required, no one could perform it. This eventually results in the Three Gorges Dam rupturing, resulting in a massive tsunami which races to the ocean, destroying what remains of Wuhan, Nanjing, and Shanghai. Following this pinnacle of ineptitude by the Politburo, more than half of China's remaining military units mutinied and began a Chinese Civil War. During the initial Great Panic in China, Captain Chen, the captain of an advanced Chinese ICBM-armed nuclear submarine deserted, running away from port with his crew and their families inside of the ship and hiding the Pacific (fearing that all humans on land had been totally overrun in the early months of the infection). The rebel-faction eventually linked up with this last remaining Chinese nuclear submarine (commanded by Cpt. Chen's son no less), and they used its ICBM complement - originally designed to destroy the NORAD base in the United States - to destroy the Poliburo's own command bunker, ending the civil war. After the loyalists surrendered, the first act of the new Chinese government was to finally implement the Redeker Plan. The disastrous decisions of the Politburo, however, left China one of the world's least populated nations and the last to be totally cleared of zombies, 12 years after the first outbreak. This eventually led to the establishment of a capitalist democracy as the United Federation of China. With the abolition of the Communist regime, Tibet gained independence. It is the most populous nation, the result of refugees hiding successfully in the Himalayas, and its capital city of Lhasa is the most populous city in the post-war world. Japan was significantly affected by the zombie outbreak. The country was incapable of defending itself due to its limited military and natural resources, and high population density. The Japanese Self-Defense Force ordered an evacuation of the Home Islands, resettling in Kamchatka. During this, Tomonaga Ijiro, a blind gardener and "hibakusha" (survivor of the atom bomb in Hiroshima) had exiled himself to the Hiddaka Mountains. Having considered himself a worthless outcast since the end of WWII, he had planned to die in the wilderness so as not to be a burden to others during the crisis. However during an incident when a bear (which he thought was meant to kill him) alerted him to an approaching zombie, Tomonaga decided to live until he discovered why the Kami (nature gods said to inhabit everything) had spared him. For months he managed to survive against the increasing number of zombies he began to encounter armed only with his gardening shovel, using both his remaining heightened senses to detect the ghouls with plenty of time, and his knowledge of the advantageous terrain to ensure his victory against the ghouls. During this time, he once again became a Shinto-Buddhist, always burying his kills and praying to the Kami for their assistance. When he ran into Kondo Tatsumi (a computer nerd who had managed to fight his way into the wilderness armed with a WWII-era katana), Tatsumi updated Tomonaga on Japan's evacuation. Tomonaga was struck with a divine inspiration, where the two, along with whatever survivors they could find, would "cleanse the garden of Japan” of the undead “pests”, a daunting task indeed, although Tomonaga felt confidant that the “gods” were on their side. After the war, Tomonaga's "Tatenokai" (Shield Society; not the same Tatenokai that had tried to stage a coup in the 1970s) had proven so effective that it became an official branch of the Japanese Defense Force, and proudly maintains a non-firearms policy. India enacted its own version of the Redeker Plan and retreated to the Himalayas, and was prepared to deploy nuclear weapons to achieve this. Fortunately, General Raj-Singh managed to manually detonate the C-4 charges that sealed off the mountain pass. His troop formation in the Battle of Gandhi Park was later adopted into the battle doctrine of other wartime nations. South Korea faced a difficult struggle, suffering a major defeat comparable to Yonkers at Incheon, a situation compounded by the Defense Ministry's insistence at keeping half their armed forces along the DMZ to prevent a possible North Korean invasion. During the Great Panic, South Korean intelligence officials noticed that the population of North Korea was disappearing. There were suddenly no North Korean spies, less and less border troops at the DMZ and Panmunjom, and less and less farmers and "volunteer workers" working outside. This culminated in every North Korean vanishing from the face of the Earth. It is believed that they all went underground, into the labyrinth of tunnels under the country. Whether or not they remained safe from infection is unknown, as the North Korean border is so booby-trapped against invasion with automated "revenge weapons" that no-one is willing to take the chance to go in a find out, except for the South Korean Intelligence Minister. It is left an open question what happened to the North Korean people, but there are two scenarios: The first is that the North Korean leadership convinced them that the surface world was utterly overrun with zombies, forcing them to stay in an underground empire where their leaders exert greater control over them than ever before. The other scenario is that zombies were able to infiltrate their bunker complexes and infect all of them, resulting in over 20 million zombies bottled up underground, waiting to be let loose by the unwary. The South Pacific The government of Australia was moved to the southern island of Tasmania and there is mention of Maori resistance to a zombie onslaught in New Zealand, centered in One Tree Hill, New Zealand in Auckland - but no mention of the outcome of that battle. The so-called "Pacific Continent" consists of a large number of refugee communities which occupy various islands in the Pacific Ocean. During the war, the Pacific Continent also had survivors who lived on boats, rafts, and in rag tag "fleets". Many ships were infested by zombies during their escape, and were the source of the many zombies who ended up on the ocean floor. Antarctica It's not stated in the book if there were any mass migrations to the bottom of the world, though Antarctica's extremely cold weather, it's remote location, and almost nonexistent human population makes it an ideal refuge from zombies for those who are fully prepared to survive here. This is one of the reasons why Brekenridge "Brek" Scott, the corrupt profiteer who had developed the ineffective zombie vaccine Phalanx, has been hiding here from vengeful world governments and the IRS inside the Russian-leased Vostok research station in the middle of the icy wastes since the Great Panic. Scott has been living off the multiple fortunes he made not only on the mass-marketed placebo, but when he pulled an Enron-esque accounting fraud and fled the country with untold billions of dollars during the Great Panic after it was revealed that Phalanx only vaccinated against rabies, not Solanum. Multiple countries are currently attempting to negotiate with the new Russian government to deny Scott's next lease renewal so they can bring him to justice. Death Toll The book does not appear to give a final count for those killed during the war. However in an interview on the World War Z official website, written as if by two real World War Z survivors, the interviewer says the number lost was 600 million people worldwide, although that number is specifically stated to be "too low" because it only takes into consideration those who were directly killed by the living dead. Those that died from starvation, disease, and inter-human violence is estimated to be far higher, suggesting over a billion deaths."http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/worldwarz/ With a world barely able to feed itself, and with travel still extremely difficult, an accurate count may never be established. The figure of 600 million would seem to contradict an assertion made by a Chinese interviewee that over half that country's population had been infected. That alone would surpass 600 million. The novel states that when the U.S. Army reclaimed the U.S., there were over 200 million undead, 25 million of which were Latin Americans infected en route to Canada. Film Adaption A film adaptation is due for release in 2010 after the rights were obtained by Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment, directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) with the screenplay being written by J. Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/ There have been a few leaked pictures of the concept art for Yonkers release recently that have been made official found here. A possible but unconfirmed viral marketing for the film adaptation has been found at itstartswiththeflu.com and notes a release date for 9-8-2010. See also *''The Zombie Survival Guide'' *The Battle of Yonkers =External links= *[http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/worldwarz/ World War Z official website] *''World War Z'' in the Internet Movie Database *Movie Deal Announced Category:World War Z